South Korea is extending COVID-19 home recovery to elderly patients amid critical shortages of hospital beds, after ordering hospitals to free up beds twice in the past month. In Seoul, which has long dealt with the largest surge of cases, patients aged 70 and older can now be prescribed home recovery if they are vaccinated and have other household members taking care of them. The city said as demand for hospital beds soar, more patients were being offered at-home care as an alternative. As

An inexperienced police officer ran from a crime scene, leaving two victims alone with a knife-wielding attacker. Was this a dereliction of duty?

Victims of the bloody crackdown on a 1980 democracy uprising voiced frustrations Tuesday, as their efforts to bring former President Chun Doo-hwan to justice came to a sudden halt with his death earlier in the day. Chun, an Army general-turned strongman, died at his home in western Seoul at age 90 after suffering from chronic illnesses, leaving behind a dark legacy of seizing power in a 1979 military coup and ruthlessly cracking down on the civil uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju the

More than 1 in 6 South Korean married women suffered a career break this year as they quit their jobs due to child rearing and getting married, data showed Tuesday. The number of women aged 15-54 who have stopped working after marriage reached 1.45 million in April, down 3.8 percent, or 57,000, from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. Such women accounted for 17.4 percent of the total 8.32 million married women, down from 17.6 percent a year earlier. The 2021 tally

The Seoul city government will co-host a virtual international conference with UN-Habitat next week to explore ways to protect heritage sites in large cities, officials said Tuesday. The webinar, titled "Heritage and Metropolis," will bring together city and heritage management experts from more than 30 cities in 15 nations for two days of discussions on Dec. 1 and 2, city officials said. Other participating cities include Shanghai, Milano, Delhi, Istanbul and New York. On the firs

Temperatures fell by over 10 degrees to below zero in many parts of the country Tuesday morning, with snow falling in many regions as well, the state weather agency said. The mercury had dropped to minus 3.7 C in Seoul as of 7:30 a.m., the lowest this fall, and below minus 5 C in the northern part of Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds the capital and mountainous areas of the northeastern Gangwon Province, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). Morning lows dipped below ze

Military strongman who ordered Gwangju massacre will not be buried in National Cemetery; Cheong Wa Dae will not offer condolences

South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed below 3,000 for the second straight day Tuesday, but the number of critically ill patients hit an all-time high, raising concerns over a shortage of hospital beds for treatment. The country reported 2,699 new COVID-19 cases, including 2,685 local infections, raising the total caseload to 420,950, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). This marked the second straight day that the daily infections remained below 3,000. The

More than 900 patients waiting for a hospital bed to open up

A total of 1,956 people have been apprehended in special drug crackdowns between August and October, with 406 of them formally arrested, police said Monday. Of the total, 1,404 were caught for using or distributing methamphetamine, ecstasy and other psychotropic drugs, another 417 for marijuana-related products and the remaining 135 for other types of narcotics, including opium, cocaine and fentanyl, according to the National Police Agency. Those in their teens, 20s and 30s totaled 1,365, almo

In-person school classes fully resumed across South Korea on Monday in line with the country's "living with COVID-19" scheme. All kindergarten, elementary, middle and high schools welcomed students without anyone left behind for remote-learning for the first time since schools switched to learning from home or classes being held in shifts since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. The full reopening of schools came after the country kicked off the first stage of "li

Police have come under fire for their inadequate responses to violent crimes, as seen in the recent death of a stalking victim under police protection and an alleged dereliction of duty by two Incheon officers accused of sidestepping a knife attack scene. A man in his 30s was arrested Saturday for killing his ex-girlfriend with a knife at her studio apartment in central Seoul the previous day. The murder sparked public fury, as it was known that the victim was under police protection after suff

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 3,000 for the first time in six days Monday due to fewer tests over the weekend, but concerns remain high over a virus resurgence amid eased social distancing rules and this week's full-fledged reopening of schools. The country reported 2,827 new COVID-19 cases, including 2,086 local infections, raising the total caseload to 418,252, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). This marked the first time in six days that th

Police chief Kim Chang-yong apologized Sunday for the police's bungled response to a violent dispute between neighbors that left one person unconscious. "I offer my deep apology to the victims, their family and the nation over the recent case of the Incheon Nonhyeon Police Station having failed to protect people in danger even though it is the most important mission and the calling of the police to protect the lives and safety of the people," Kim, commissioner-general of the Nationa

So far in November at least six people have died before they could be admitted